If you’ve recently embarked on the ketogenic diet, you might be struggling to find the ideal snack. After all, you don’t want to lose out on all your favorite foods, like your movie theater favorite, popcorn. Is this salty, crunchy classic considered keto-friendly? Most of your traditional snack options-like chips, crackers, and fruits-include too many of the keto-killing carbohydrates.
The ketogenic diet, often called the keto diet, involves eating a small amount of carbs in an effort to lose weight by pushing the body into a process called ketosis. Our bodies burn carbs as our first-line fuel source. When carb intake is restricted, the body turns quickly to its second option: fat. The strategy has seen success since its beginnings as a treatment option for epilepsy in the 1920s. The only issue is, to maintain a state of ketosis, you need to be intaking only around 25 grams, or less, of carbohydrates per day. The specific cutoff is different for everyone, but regardless, it's a small amount of carbs. For reference, there’s 45 grams of carbs in a single cup of rice. To adhere to that extreme restriction (to which there’s lots of conversation about), you need the right snack tools in your arsenal. We know just as well as you do that there’s nothing like posting up with a tub of popcorn. Corn in itself is considered pretty carb-heavy.
Understanding the Keto Diet
The keto diet involves drastically reducing your carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fats. This metabolic shift leads to a state known as ketosis, where your body starts using ketones, derived from fat breakdown, as its primary energy source. This dietary approach has gained traction for its potential benefits, including weight loss and improved management of certain health conditions.
The Science Behind Ketosis
When you significantly limit carbs, your body depletes its glycogen stores (stored glucose) and turns to fat for fuel. The liver converts fat into ketones, which are then used by cells for energy. To achieve and maintain ketosis, most individuals need to consume less than 50 grams of net carbs per day, although this can vary.
Keto-Friendly Foods
The foundation of a keto diet consists of low-carb foods such as:
Read also: Popcorn on a Candida Cleanse
- Eggs
- Meats
- Fatty fish
- Avocados
- Olive oil
- Nuts and seeds
- Non-starchy vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli, bell peppers)
Popcorn: A Nutritional Overview
Before diving into the keto question, let's understand the nutritional profile of popcorn. Popcorn refers to the puffs that form when corn kernels are heated, causing the water inside of them to expand and the kernels to explode. It’s a popular snack that has been enjoyed for thousands of years and is thought to have originated in the Americas. In fact, some studies suggest that people in Peru ate popcorn over 6,000 years ago (1). Today, people all over the world eat popcorn. It can be made on the stove, in an air popper, or your microwave. It’s also sold already popped.
Popcorn is commonly served with melted butter and salt but can be flavored with herbs, spices, cheese, chocolate, or other seasonings, too.
Popcorn is a favorite snack made from dried corn kernels that have been heated. It can be eaten plain, topped with melted butter, or tossed in seasonings.
Though most think of corn as a vegetable, popcorn is considered a whole grain. Popcorn kernels are harvested when the corn plant is mature and all parts of the grain are intact. Eating whole grains has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and overall mortality (2, 3, 4). This is because whole grains are rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals, and plant compounds that provide many health benefits (5, 6).
Nutritional Value of Air-Popped Popcorn
Like other whole grains, popcorn is highly nutritious. A 3-cup (24 grams) serving of air-popped popcorn contains (7):
Read also: Is Popcorn Keto-Friendly?
- Calories: 90
- Fat: 1 gram
- Protein: 3 grams
- Carbs: 18 grams
- Fiber: 4 grams
- Magnesium: 9% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)
- Phosphorus: 9% of the RDI
- Manganese: 12% of the RDI
- Zinc: 6% of the RDI
Since it’s high in fiber, popcorn is very filling without having a lot of calories. It’s also rich in minerals, including magnesium, phosphorous, zinc, and manganese (7).
Health Benefits of Popcorn
What’s more, popcorn offers antioxidants like polyphenols that help prevent cellular damage caused by molecules called free radicals. In particular, polyphenols may offer protective effects against cancer and other chronic diseases (8, 9, 10).
Can Popcorn Fit into a Keto Diet?
Believe it or not, popcorn isn’t that high in carbs: One cup of air-popped popcorn has 6 grams of carbs, and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of net carbs, says Natalie Rizzo, M.S, R.D. Unless you’re eating some kind of wacky sugary caramel-coated popcorn, that’s not too bad. But still, popcorn is, by nature of its source, a carb-heavy snack. So what to do?
Because 5 grams of net carbs is pretty low, popcorn can definitely fit into a keto diet, says Rizzo. “It’s a healthy whole-grain snack that is low in carbs,” she says. Plus, it has nutritious carbs and fiber, which contribute to energy production and digestion, so you’re getting in some nice sources of fiber to promote gut health and keep you regular-something that is actually of concern to those on keto due to the lack of naturally high fiber sources.
Net Carbs in Popcorn
The key is not to go overboard - 1 cup of air-popped popcorn has only 6 grams of carbs, but if you eat 3 cups, that’s 18 grams and likely more than half of your daily carbs. A typical serving of air-popped popcorn is 3 cups (24 grams) and contains 4 grams of fiber and 18 grams of carbs - or 14 grams of net carbs (7).
Read also: Easy Low-Carb Cheese Crackers
Depending on your daily carb limit, popcorn may be able to fit into a keto diet. Popcorn can easily fit into a keto diet with a daily limit of 50 grams of net carbs and can even be included in more restrictive versions of the keto diet. Not to mention, if you’re following a keto diet to lose weight, popcorn only has 90 calories per serving.
However, a 3-cup (24-gram) serving would take up a large part of your daily carb allotment. If you want to enjoy popcorn on a keto diet, consider limiting other high-carb foods, so you don’t exceed your net carb limit.
Making Smart Choices
Bread, chips, sweets, and other refined grains are high in carbs and contain little to no fiber. On the other hand, popcorn and other whole grains have more fiber and fewer net carbs (7). Therefore, eating popcorn instead of high-carb, low-fiber foods on a keto diet can help satisfy a desire for carbs without going overboard. Still, it’s important to be aware of portions when eating popcorn on a keto diet since it can be easy to overconsume. To help keep portion size in check and feel more satisfied, you can add fat from coconut oil, butter, or olive oil to popcorn. Making popcorn at home instead of buying pre-popped varieties can also help you control how much you eat and what you add to it.
Preparation Matters
If you're following a keto diet and want to chow down on popcorn, think about how it's prepared. Air-popped popcorn is the most nutritious because it has the least amount of fluff - chemicals, food coloring, salt, fat - added to it via processing,” says Lisa Andrews, M.Ed., R.D., owner of Sound Bites Nutrition in Cincinnati, Ohio. On the other hand, she says, traditional microwave popcorn contains a fair amount of hydrogenated oils (unless it’s labeled 94% fat-free) and sodium, as well as diacetyl, a buttery-flavored chemical that’s been linked with lung disease in employees at popcorn-processing plants. “Movie-style popcorn contains Flavacol- an ingredient containing salt, artificial butter flavor, Yellow #5 and Yellow #6. It also has hydrogenated soybean oil meant to mimic butter,” she adds.
Also, consider what you're topping the popcorn with. The issues starts to happen when you start adding different things to popcorn,” Rissetto says. If you use a sugary topping, like caramel or chocolate, then that's not keto-friendly. But according to Rissetto, if you use savory things like butter, Parmesan cheese, seasonings or a tiny bit of hot sauce, then that would keep the snack within the limits of the diet. Another option is to toss the popcorn in nut butter, or sprinkle on spices like cinnamon and salt.
Recipe for Keto-Friendly Popcorn
To make popcorn at home, heat 1 tablespoon of coconut oil or butter in a large pot over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of popcorn kernels. Cover the pot with a lid while the kernels pop. After popping stops, remove from heat and season with oil or butter and salt.
Now, if you go ahead and drizzle your popcorn with chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, or another high-sugar topping, then your popcorn, though now more delicious, is likely not keto. To bump up the fats (and flavor) in your popcorn snack: "Pair a cup of air popped popcorn with nuts and top with cinnamon and salt to make a trail mix. Or drizzle 1 cup of air popped popcorn with nut butter,” says Rizzo.
Other Keto-Friendly Snack Options
If you’re looking for other snacks to eat on a keto diet, there are a lot of options -and many of them are healthy choices (bacon and pork rinds are exceptions! They're keto-friendly, but really not the best for your body, so we're leaving them off this list). Consider these suggestions from Andrews:
- Celery sticks, radishes, bell pepper strips or mushrooms with guacamole or full-fat cream cheese
- Scrambled or hard-boiled eggs
- Kale chips or roasted Brussels sprouts
- A small portion of nuts or seeds
- String cheese or cheese cubes
- Parmesan or other cheese crisps
- Tuna salad wrapped in lettuce
- Ham and cheese wrapped in lettuce
- Grilled chicken or shrimp kababs
- Shrimp (without cocktail sauce)
- Meatballs made without breadcrumbs or other grains
- Meat “sticks” such as jerky or biltong
Balancing the Keto Diet
When you have to carefully evaluate everything you eat, not only can that be tiring over time; it can also suck the joy out of eating. “It's really not fun - the mental aspect of it is really tough to do,” says Rissetto. On top of that, even though you may lose weight, there are long-term health issues to consider with the keto diet. “Excessive carbs from refined foods - sweets, chips, snack foods, fast food - are not the best for overall health, but a keto diet lacks variety and can be low in fiber, which also raises the risk for certain diseases including heart disease and cancer,” Andrews points out.
The USDA recommends that women get at least 25 grams of fiber a day, and that men get 38 grams - and research shows that fiber itself promotes a feeling of satiety and, along with helping prevent certain diseases, is good for managing one's weight, if that's the goal.
You should always check with your doctor before starting any diet.